🏈 Eli Manning Wants To Buy A Piece Of The New York Giants

In today’s newsletter we discuss Eli Manning wants to buy a piece of the New York Giants, Tom Holland may have proposed to Zendaya, and Tesla to begin mass production of their Optimus humanoid robots in 2025, TikTok Argues In Front Of the U.S. Supreme Court, should the Wu-Tang Clan members RZA and Cilvaringz have a role in Martin Shkreli’s court case, and Getty Images is acquiring Shutterstock for $3.7 billion dollars.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

🕺 While TikTok Argues In Front Of the U.S. Supreme Court Sharks Are Circling To Acquire TikTok’s U.S. Assets

The potential ban of TikTok in the United States has escalated to the Supreme Court, where arguments are being heard today regarding its legality. The central issue remains the U.S. government's national security concerns due to TikTok's ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese company. These concerns center around:

• Data Collection: The fear that TikTok's extensive data collection could provide the Chinese government with access to sensitive user information.

• Content Manipulation: The risk of the Chinese government influencing content on the platform, potentially spreading propaganda or engaging in censorship.

• Potential Surveillance: Concerns that TikTok could be used for espionage or intelligence gathering against American citizens.

TikTok is arguing before the Supreme Court that a ban would violate the First Amendment rights of both the platform and its millions of American users. I’m not gonna lie - they make some very good arguments:

• Freedom of Speech: They contend that a ban would stifle free expression and limit users' ability to communicate and share ideas.

• Economic Impact: TikTok emphasizes the negative impact a ban would have on content creators and businesses that rely on the platform for income and marketing.

• Lack of Evidence: TikTok argues that the government has not presented sufficient evidence to justify the claimed national security threats.

While this legal battle is playing out, billionaire Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty is leading a consortium of business leaders he’s calling The People's Bid, and has proposed acquiring TikTok's U.S. assets from ByteDance. This group proposes to address the national security concerns by:

• Rebuilding the platform: This would ensure that user data is stored and managed within the United States, subject to American laws and regulations.

• Prioritizing privacy and transparency: Project Liberty emphasizes its commitment to protecting user data and ensuring open and accountable operations.

The Supreme Court's decision will be pivotal, determining the future of TikTok in the U.S. and setting a precedent for the intersection of national security, free speech, and the regulation of foreign-owned technology platforms. The People's Bid offers an alternative path, attempting to balance these competing interests.

📷 Business

Getty Images is acquiring Shutterstock for $3.7 billion dollars to create a monopoly on photo and video content. Queue the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) inquiry into the merger any minute now.

💍 Entertainment

In news literally EVERYONE saw coming, Tom Holland has reportedly proposed to Zendaya. Congrats to the happy couple some people cringingly call “Tomdaya”.

🤖 Tech

Elon Musk’s Tesla is planning to begin mass production of their Optimus humanoid robots in 2025. Coupled with Elon Musk’s xAI, I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.

🎤 Music

Martin Shkreli is back in court fighting with PleasrDAO, which acquired Martin Shkreli’s Wu-Tang Clan’s single album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin in an auction for $4.75 million from the Justice Department, which seized the album from Shkreli after his 2018 conviction for securities fraud.

You might remember Martin Shkreli  as the tool who bought the Wu-Tang Clan’s single album, “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin”, using the proceeds from an alleged Ponzi scheme, which he would later be convicted in federal court on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Martin Shkreli is arguing that Wu-Tang Clan members “Robert Diggs, who goes by RZA, and the album’s producer Tarik Azzougarh, known as Cilvaringz, should be included in the suit as “they maintain a property interest in the copyrights” to the album at issue.”

FWIW, my hatred of Martin Shkreli stems from my life-long love of the Wu-Tang Clan, and when he purchased their one-off album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” he corrupted the artistic expression of music that the Wu-Tang Clan was trying to create when they published one physical copy of the album and sold it to one person who legally was never supposed to be allowed to make a copy of the album. Martin Shkreli was prohibited from releasing the album until 2103 at the earliest. So everything that has happened since involving Martin Shkreli has been a blemish on a piece of art that was born as an homage to Renaissance musical patronage.

🏈 Sports

If you had the opportunity to invest in any NFL team, I’m pretty sure after this last season the New York Giants would be pretty much everyone’s last choice, but try telling that to Eli Manning, who says there’s “only one team” he'd be interested in taking an ownership stake in the New York Giants.

Apparently he’s so serious about his interest that he’s been putting together an investment group and reached out to the owners of the New York Giants, John Mara and Steve Tisch.

The New York Giants finished the 2024 season 3-14, after releasing Quarterback Daniel Jones halfway through the season. They have the 3rd draft pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.